Hard Cash for Blockchain Assets

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Please tell us, what is SALT Lending all about / what do you do?

Blake Cohen, Co-Founder & Director of Business Development: SALT is Secured Automated Lending Technology. SALT Lending allows holders of blockchain assets to use those assets as collateral for a cash loan. My role is to create relationships with businesses and individuals who will bring value to SALT and ultimately to our customers.

Who is your product intended for? Explain use cases.

Cohen: Our product is intended for any holder of blockchain assets who would prefer to leverage those assets rather than sell them.

In many cases the value of these assets is appreciating. Individuals and businesses would rather hold onto their assets, but are forced into selling when the need for cash arises. Individuals may have cash needs for anything from buying a home to paying off student loans, or even paying rent and bills. Businesses may have a need for cash in order to make payroll, or purchase more sophisticated computing equipment in order to grow.

What problem do you solve in your industry? Please explain the underlying technology.

Cohen: Currently there is no asset-backed credit market in the blockchain space, other than margin accounts on exchanges which only allow you to spend on their platform. Cryptocurrency alone is at a 100 billion dollar market cap, with no way to leverage that value. As other assets, such as diamonds, gold, land title, and securities move to the blockchain, the blockchain asset class is rapidly growing toward the trillions. Our software and processes solve the lack of leverage opportunity by providing a platform for a market to form.

How was this problem solved in the past?

Cohen: In the past, holders of blockchain assets have been forced to sell, losing out on the appreciating value of their asset, as well as incurring capital gains taxes. There was no acceptable solution.

Who are your competitors?

Cohen: For borrowers, there are currently no competitors. For lenders, our competition is anywhere else they might find to purchase assets with cash and realize a return.

How do you differentiate from your competitors?

Cohen: As mentioned before, there are no other avenues for a borrower.

From the perspective of a lender, we are opening up an entirely new customer base and way to deploy cash to make money. As well, we feel that blockchain assets, due to their liquidity and divisibility, are the ideal collateral to lend against. The fact that the loan is fully secured by a highly liquid collateral also removes credit risk, which many lenders take when making unsecured loans where risk is assessed based on credit checks.

What is the most important thing to know about your product?

Cohen: Our Secured Automated Lending Technology provides many benefits to both borrower and lender, among them:

We will never be custodians of the collateral. The collateral will be held in a multi signature wallet, where the borrower, lender, our SALT Oracle, and SALT Platform hold keys. Terms of the loan will be executed when 3 of the 4 keys are activated, thereby removing counterparty risk.

Our software acts as risk mitigation for the lender. If the value of the collateral drops at a faster rate than the loan is being paid off, there are trigger points when portions of the collateral are sold off, maintaining the agreed upon loan to value ratio, and protecting the lender's investment.

How will you make money?

Cohen: We have several revenue streams including a yearly subscription fee which will be commensurate with the needs of the borrower, a percentage of the interest rate of the loan and data.

Who founded the company, when and why?

Cohen: We founded the company in 2015. Co-founders are our CEO Shawn Owen, Creative & Marketing Director Caleb Slade, Chief Strategy Officer Ben Yablon and myself. We recognized a major piece missing from the blockchain ecosystem and felt we had the requisite skills and experience to deliver this product.

You are currently raising funds with a crowdsale? How much money is being sought? If yes, when and what will you use the funds for? Where can you buy coins? When are the dates of the crowdsale?

Cohen: Our sale is a discounted membership credit sale. We expect to raise between 30-50 million dollars. The funds will be used to continue to develop our company, including software and international expansion.

The date of the sale are as yet undetermined, but will be made known on our website, saltlending.com, where the membership credits will be available when the sale starts.

What else would you like to add?

Cohen: We are very proud and pleased to offer this product to the blockchain community. We think this will have a profound effect on the overall growth and legitimacy of the blockchain space. We are totally focused on and dedicated to providing outstanding products and services to our customers, with a focus on utility, user experience and security.

Mr. Blake Cohen heads up Salt Lending's Business Development. Working for Signet Partners for the last five years, Mr. Cohen has worked extensively in emerging markets and in reviewing and producing contracts. He has an extensive and accomplished background in complex contractual negotiations and transactional deal-making, specializing in real estate, networking, and capital formation.

Xenia von Wedel is a Tech blogger and Enterprise Media Consultant in Silicon Valley and Paris, serving clients in a variety of industries worldwide. She is focused on thought leadership content creation and syndication, media outreach and strategy. She mainly writes about Blockchain, Enterprise, B2B solutions, social media and open source software, but throws the occasional oddball into the mix.
Tip her if you like her articles: http://xeniar.tip.me

Cloud computing is Internet based development and use of computer technology. It is a style of computing in which typically real-time scalable resources are provided 'as a service' over the Internet to users who need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure ("in the cloud") that supports them.

Cloud Expo

Cloud Computing & All That
It Touches In One Location Cloud Computing - Big Data - Internet of Things
SDDC - WebRTC - DevOps
Cloud computing is become a norm within enterprise IT.

The competition among public cloud providers is red hot, private cloud continues to grab increasing shares of IT budgets, and hybrid cloud strategies are beginning to conquer the enterprise IT world.

Big Data is driving dramatic leaps in resource requirements and capabilities, and now the Internet of Things promises an exponential leap in the size of the Internet and Worldwide Web.

The world of SDX now encompasses Software-Defined Data Centers (SDDCs) as the technology world prepares for the Zettabyte Age.

Add the key topics of WebRTC and DevOps into the mix, and you have three days of pure cloud computing that you simply cannot miss.

Delegates will leave Cloud Expo with dramatically increased understanding the entire scope of the entire cloud computing spectrum from storage to security.

Cloud Expo - the world's most established event - offers a vast selection of 130+ technical and strategic Industry Keynotes, General Sessions, Breakout Sessions, and signature Power Panels. The exhibition floor features 100+ exhibitors offering specific solutions and comprehensive strategies. The floor also features two Demo Theaters that give delegates the opportunity to get even closer to the technology they want to see and the people who offer it.

Attend Cloud Expo. Craft your own custom experience. Learn the latest from the world's best technologists. Find the vendors you want and put them to the test.